David Ulrich
Birth to Enlistment David Philip Ulrich was born on 23 June 74, to parents serving in the Coalition Army in Missouri. He grew up on a string of military bases, and was an enthusiastic member of the Young Pioneers. At the age of 16, he enlisted at the nearest recruiting station. By this time, his father had died in combat on the Michigan frontier, and his mother died shortly after his enlistment. War Without End Ulrich's aptitude for war was a combination of genetics and drive - there was never enough done as far as he was concerned. If the objective was to push the enemy back a quarter-mile, he pushed an extra 200 yards. As a result, he was accepted into the Commando Course as a private, first class in 90 PA, just after completing basic and advanced infantry training. He spent the next several years in a series of units with forward-of-the-lines experience, from basic scout units to dedicated rear-area raiding units. In 101, he turned down the opportunity to transfer to the Naval Special Operations staff in order to take a position as a squad leader on detached duty with the ISS forces responsible for clearing out the lowest levels of Chi-Town. It was in this context that he was assigned as a training NCO for the newly formed Prosek Guards in 106. This assignment brought him into contact with the Security Forces, and led to his presence on the Tolkeen Front two years later, leading a squad of the Prosek Guards' raider battalion into the city of Center Gear. Center Gear Ulrich's squad was sent into Center Gear as part of a battalion effort to secure the small-arms factories on the south side of the Mississippi River, launching in November 108 PA. Almost immediately the operation went wrong. The platoon leader was caught in a gargoyle dive-bombing, and Ulrich's squad forced to take cover in a block of workers' apartments. The ensuing month of combat saw him gather the remnants of his platoon day-by-day, then fight in brutal hand-to-hand combat day after day after day. Only after six days were Coalition troops able to resupply the squad, and then only intermittently. Rumors abound that Ulrich's troops survived by eating their enemies; he himself refuses to comment at all on what happened in Center Gear. After three weeks of fighting in isolation, both sides made a determined push to break Ulrich's House. The Coalition pushed an infantry company into the apartment block just as the mages began shaking the building to death. The building collapsing around him, Ulrich shepherded his platoon to safety, going back in to ensure that none of their heavy weapons were destroyed. He was evacuated with critical injuries requiring extensive reconstruction on 25 December 108, and immediately commissioned upon arrival at Chi-Town. He was not expected to survive, so paperwork to award him the Medal was expedited. Aftermath His survival was a surprise, as was his recovery - the Security Forces staff officers had not expected to have a hero on their hands, much less a grim, no-nonsense man like Ulrich who wanted nothing more than to go back to the front. Since the Prosek Guards' raider battalion was shattered, he was instead sent to be a platoon leader in the newly formed 3rd Security Forces Division, returning home to Missouri.